Directed by:
Agnès VardaScreenplay:
Agnès VardaComposer:
Joanna BruzdowiczCast:
Jane Birkin, Mathieu Demy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lou Doillon, Judy Campbell, Andrew Birkin, David Birkin, Pénélope Pourriat, Eva Simonet, Stéphane Ly-CuongPlots(1)
Made concurrently with Agnès Varda’s portrait of Jane Birkin, Jane B. par Agnès V., Kung-Fu Master! is a true family affair, achieving a sense of of lived-in intimacy by casting the actor’s real-life relatives, including daughters Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, as themselves. Varda and Birkin give the familiar theme of a misunderstood couple searching for a place where their love can survive a provocative twist in this daring romance, in which Birkin (who wrote the story that provided the inspiration for the film) plays a middle-aged woman involved with a fourteen-year-old, video game–obsessed boy (Varda’s son, Mathieu Demy). The taboo relationship plays out with supreme delicacy and restraint, as Varda transforms the explosive premise into a disarmingly tender portrait of a woman’s search for lost youth. (Criterion)
(more)Cast
Jane Birkin
UK
Best movies:
Animal (1977)
If You Die, I'll Kill You (2011)
La Belle Noiseuse (1991)
Mathieu Demy
France
Best movies:
One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (1977)
L'Affaire Dreyfus (1994) (series)
Kung-Fu Master! (1988)
Charlotte Gainsbourg
UK
Best movies:
21 Grams (2003)
Nuremberg (2000) (TV movie)
The Cement Garden (1993)
Lou Doillon
France
Best movies:
Kung-Fu Master! (1988)
Polisse (2011)
Summer Things (2002)
Judy Campbell
UK
Best movies:
Kung-Fu Master! (1988)
Green for Danger (1947)
Convoy (1940)
Andrew Birkin
UK
Best movies:
The Name of the Rose (1986)
Kung-Fu Master! (1988)
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
David Birkin
Best movies:
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999) (series)
Hornblower: Duty (2003) (TV movie)
Les Misérables (1998)
Pénélope Pourriat
Best movies:
Kung-Fu Master! (1988)
Eva Simonet
Best movies:
Z (1969)
Kung-Fu Master! (1988)
La Grande Bouffe (1973)
Stéphane Ly-Cuong
France
Best movies:
Kung-Fu Master! (1988)
Battle of the Classes (2019)
Stella in Love (2022)